Here at Luella York HQ we love to keep positive and challenge ourselves to do better, as part of our brand ethos we want to share our positivity with you through positive, motivational and funny quotes which you will see regularly (if you like/follow us!) on our social media pages Instagram and Facebook.
In the current times it is even more important to try and stay positive, as mor
e of us are WFH you have to motivate yourself to get up (roll out of bed) and ‘go to work’ (the bedroom next door that you have converted into a temporary home office) probably without having a shower or putting ‘real’ work clothes on! Before stopping by the fridge numerous times for a ‘snack’ (I’m sure way more times than you would if you was at ‘actual work!’)
It’s hard to do the same thing day in day out, in the same 4 walls, it is hard to separate work from home when you are suddenly working from home. Merging the 2 together can be tough, not seeing your colleagues, sitting still more… it can get boring, lonely, isolating… (that’s right just remind yourself why we are doing this ‘isolating’ to #staysafe from the virus).
As lockdown started I was in the late stages of pregnancy, hubby and I had being busy at weekends prepping for babas arrival, shopping for last minute things, decorating the nursery, I was frantically trying to knit cardigans (some still unfinished!) life was pretty normal apart from one of the biggest things in our lives was about to change – we was going to become 3!
Then the seriousness of the virus we had been hearing about in China was getting close to home and pregnant women (along with the elderly) were told to isolate/stay at home. This was the 16th March 2020, so I did just that – I scooped the paperwork and laptop from my desk into a couple of bags, said a few goodbyes to colleagues and jumped in my car. Driving home was surreal – I didn’t even think about the fact I wasn’t going to see my colleagues again before I became a Mumma or that I was barely going to leave our four walls (good job I quite like our house!) I just needed to get home and shut the door! It felt like a scary world out there and this virus was out there to get us!
So I WFH for the last month of my pregnancy – it was tough going as moving around was even more needed but being at home it wasn’t the same, I didn’t even have to walk to the car, from the car to the office etc I just sat at my desk frantically typing emails, taking virtual meetings throughout the day to get everything wrapped up before my mat leave began! Lockdown (the first one, we are currently in the 2nd as I write this!) felt very serious, it was like The Walking Dead when we went out for a walk (in our 1 hour time limit) dodging ‘walkers’ if we saw them as not to get ‘the lurgy’ from them! The 2nd lockdown feels a lot different – there’s a lot more people about and we have somehow come to accept that dodging each other on a walk is now the norm! It’s funny how quickly the human body adapts.
Anyway, time past and lockdown continued – the ever nearing pregnancy was on my mind all the time – not only the major fear I had of giving birth but
a. was we going to get in and out of the hospital without catching COVID
b. would hubby even be allowed in with me?
In the final weeks (baba was 2 weeks late) the weather was glorious, I spent a lot of time in the garden, sunbathing, knitting and listening to reggae tunes (they chilled me out BIG TIME!) oh, and eating lots of ice lollies (they were my final craving) especially orange Del Monte ones – I was sucking every last orange juice droplet out of them! (orange seems to be a popular craving for new mums – I worked my way through litres of Tropicana orange juice, lots of Del montes and quite a lot of orange cordial!)
Anyway – long story short (
I will tell the rest in another blog) we had baba, safe and well and made it home without COVID, well at least we hoped so and lived the 1st 14 days at home wondering if we were all going to be ok! The early weeks were tough, sleep deprivation was insane, feeding at all hours, sharing the night ‘shift’ where possible and basically giving our all to baba. It was nothing we could have ever prepared ourselves for and without any family or friends being able to visit we just got on with it.
As our routine developed, our days got easier and we had an idea of how the day was going to go. It meant that we could start to think about the business and how we could juggle that as well as bringing up our new bundle of joy.
We have a huge list of things that we want to do, with new ideas coming into my head most days! I am definitely a list maker so you can probably imagine I have quite a lo
ng list that gets added too regularly! But so far, I have to say I am pretty impressed with some of the achievements we have accomplished alongside bringing up baba..
Alot of people ask “Where do you find the time?!” But there is one thing I do know and that’s ‘YOU ONLY GET WHERE YOU WANT IF YOU GO AFTER IT’, so here we are doing just that.
We make a plan, follow the lists and try to fit things in around our daily routine where possible, but mostly work while baba is asleep. It’s amazing what you can get done in a short amount of time if you have a plan!
We at Luella York are great listeners (and talkers) and in these crucial times we aren’t just here to open an e-commerce store we want to be here to help, if you are struggling and just need to talk just drop us a DM on our socials (links above) and we will be more than happy to have a chat! In the meantime have a scroll through our quotes and think of the positives that make you smile….